🏌‍♀Hovland's Plan To Defend FedEx Cup Title

Good Morning! The field is set for the FedEx St. Jude Championship - click here to find out the groups and tee times.

The tournament tees off on August 15 - don’t forget to check out our top betting picks for the tournament!

Today’s Trivia: Who are the only two players to win multiple FedEx Cup titles? Answer at the end of the email.

⛳ This day in history: On this date, in the 2011 women's British Open, Yani Tseng of Taiwan became the first player to successfully defend the Open as a major championship, 4 strokes ahead of Brittany Lang.

ODDS AND PICKS
Our Top Picks For St. Jude Championship

🚩 The FedEx St. Jude Championship tees off tomorrow with the PGA Tour’s top 70 golfers assembling at TPC Southwind for a place in the next round of the playoffs.

💰 Purse: $20 million

Here are our top picks we’re betting on:

🚀Most Likely to Win: Despite a disappointing 24th-place finish at the Olympics, Collin Morikawa (+1200) recently delivered his best approach performance of the season at Le Golf National. The two-time major champion has gained over six strokes on approach in consecutive starts, signaling a return to his peak iron play. Now, he heads to a course where he has finished in the top 15 in his last two appearances, one that favors accuracy and mid-iron play. This could be the ideal venue for Morikawa to secure his first win of 2024.

🚀Key Player in the Top 5: Though Patrick Cantlay (+500) narrowly lost to Lucas Glover in a playoff last year, TPC Southwind has been a strong venue for him. Cantlay, known for excelling in the FedEx Cup playoffs, has been improving in recent tournaments. The 32-year-old recently finished in the top 25 at the Open Championship, gaining over eight strokes in ball-striking. Before that, he secured consecutive top-five finishes at the US Open and Travelers Championship. We anticipate Cantlay will maintain his strong performance in the upcoming FedEx Cup playoffs.

🚀Key Player in the Top 10: Strong approach play is key at TPC Southwind, and Tom Kim (+260) is coming off an eighth-place finish at the Olympics, where he gained 7.9 strokes on approach. He returns to a course where he has finished in the top 25 in his last two appearances and has already won on a similar Southeastern Bermuda course at the Wyndham Championship.

🚀Key Player in the Top 20: Sepp Straka (+160) thrives on courses with severe penalties for missed fairways and a focus on mid-iron approach play, making TPC Southwind an ideal fit. He narrowly lost in a playoff there in 2022 and recently gained over five strokes on approach at the Olympics.

🚀Underdog Likely to Emerge: Ben Griffin (+10000) gained over eight strokes on approach, leading to a top-10 finish at the Wyndham Championship. Like Sedgefield, TPC Southwind emphasizes mid-iron play and has similar agronomy. In addition to his strong approach, Griffin ranks first in this field for pure Bermudagrass putting over the past three years.

* All odds via BetMGM, at the time of publishing.

ALBATROSS
How Scheffler vs Schauffele Match Up @ FedEx Cup

Professional golf’s modern-day version of “Clash of the Titans” will premiere at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis this week. When play begins Thursday at TPC Southwind, it will feature 70 of the world’s best golfers, including greats like Rory McIlroy, winners of multiple majors like Collin Morikawa, and former champions in Memphis like Will Zalatoris and Justin Thomas.

But all eyes will surely be on two of the outright favorites - Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele. Scheffler is No 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking and No 1 in the FedEx Cup Playoff standings - Schauffele is No 2 in both.

Three of golf’s four majors in 2024 were won by either Scheffler or Schauffele. Bryson DeChambeau, who won’t be in Memphis this year because he has aligned himself with LIV Golf, won the other major - the US Open.

Scheffler or Schauffele hasn't been victorious in Memphis before but this time it will take a lot to stop them.

Schauffele has made seven starts at TPC Southwind - his best finish came in 2020, when he tied for sixth at the event, then known as the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Scheffler has played Memphis four times, finishing 14th in 2021 and tying for 15th in 2020.

📌 Scheffler's New Milestone: Scottie Scheffler has officially reached a milestone that only a handful of golfers have ever achieved—100 weeks as the world’s number one golfer. Among those 100 weeks, 65 were consecutive.

The streak began in late 2022 and carried through into 2024, during which he added numerous titles to his name and further solidified his place among golf’s greats. In 2024 alone, Scheffler secured six PGA Tour wins, a record matched by few and surpassed by even fewer.

The pinnacle of this streak was his recent gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

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TWEET
Worth Mentioning

EAGLE
Can Hovland Defend FedEx Cup Title?

Viktor Hovland is coming off a T-30 finish at the Olympics and sits in 57th place entering the first leg of the playoffs at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Only the top 50 after this week advance to the BMW Championship, but Hovland is confident that he sees the light at the end of the tunnel of a very frustrating season to date.

Hovland has withdrawn from multiple events this year - the WM Phoenix Open after a T-58 at Pebble Beach and later from the RBC Heritage, a signature event, after shooting an 81 to miss the cut at the Masters. Both WDs prompted rumors that Hovland was considering a move to LIV Golf, but he has insisted that he'd rather work on his game at home than struggle in competition.

The young Norwegian star was coming off winning the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus last year when he changed swing coaches - that doesn't seem to have worked. So, how does he plan to defend his title?

Known as a player who tinkers with his swing over countless hours on the range, Hovland said he now has "all the data and the facts on the table" to go about regaining the form that had him on top of the golf world less than 12 months ago.

📍Hovland's take on Scheffler vs Schauffele debate: At the end of the year, either Scottie Scheffler or Xander Schauffele will be honored with the Jack Nicklaus Award for PGA Tour Player of the Year. Reigning FedEx Cup Playoffs champ Viktor Hovland didn’t exactly endorse a candidate in the race but he hinted that Schauffele's achievements this season are more impressive.

Schauffele, the No 2 ranked player in the world, won the PGA Championship at Valhalla and the Open Championship at Royal Troon. Before his epic major season, Schauffele had been the second-steadiest player on the PGA Tour, after Scheffler.

But Hovland also made it clear that he looks up to Scheffler for inspiration.

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LOCKER ROOM
What else is making news

Solheim Cup: Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville has been named as the host course for the 21st Solheim Cup in 2028. Valhalla will join The Greenbrier, Muirfield Village and Gleneagles as the only courses to host both a Solheim Cup and a Ryder Cup.

Creator Classic: The Creator Classic sponsored by Blackstone will take place Wednesday, Aug. 28 at 4 pm ET at East Lake Golf Club, the day before play begins at the TOUR Championship. Click here to check out the list of 16 creators taking part.

TGL: Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy's TGL tech league has added Toptracer as their ball-tracing partner.

LPGA Tour: The LPGA Tour begins back-to-back weeks competing in Scotland with the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open in Ayrshire - here are five things you need to know.

BIRDIE
This Is The Fastest Round In PGA Tour History

One of the most notable recent examples of a lightning-fast round, perhaps surprising given his reputation for taking his time on the course, came from Kevin Na. Six years before he became a LIV golfer, in 2016, Na positively zipped around East Lake during the Tour Championship in one hour and 59 minutes, completing an impressive round of 69 in the process.

Five years later, another player who would eventually sign for LIV Golf, Joaquin Niemann, beat Na’s effort by six minutes at the same course. He took advantage of Brooks Koepka’s withdrawal on the Saturday to play alone, enabling him to set a new 18-hole speed record for the Tour Championship of one hour and 53 minutes.

But that is nothing on the achievement of Wesley Bryan in 2017, who holds the PGA Tour’s unofficial record for its fastest-ever round (official timings aren't kept).

Bryan was a man in a hurry during the final round of that year’s BMW PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Like Niemann four years later, Bryan was able to take on the challenge thanks to a withdrawal, this time of Danny Lee, meaning he was playing alone in the final round.

He carded a highly impressive round of 69, featuring 14 pars, three birdies and just one bogey in a barely believable one hour and 29 minutes. Clocking in at less than five minutes a hole,, Bryan had completed his round while the group behind him was still on the eighth!

DRIVING RANGE
Why Pros Deloft Irons

In today's video, we reveal three reasons why golfers should deloft their irons and pros do this to varying degrees.

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